Has there ever been a year which has been more tough in terms of demand and output in general practice? Covid landed and with it a whole host of immediate and long-term issues which have all had a direct impact on practice and network cashflow. Our resident finance guru James Gransby of RSM UK is back this week to give his thoughts and his advice on available funding now, what may be up for grabs in future, where savings could be identified, whether general practice overall is thriving in spite of the pressure and most importantly, what to do if your financial position is already precarious.

Introduction (33 secs)

Is it harder for practices to stay on top of finances now? (43 secs)

What support is available from NHS England? (1 min 12 secs)

The influence of individual CCGs (2 mins 18 secs)

Income protection (2 mins 47 secs)

Where is income being lost? (4 mins)

Has the £150m Covid expansion funding really made a difference?  (4 mins 46 secs)

Practical and financial implications of taking on additional roles (6 mins 2 secs)

The pressure from two, large-scale immunisations programmes in one financial year (6 mins 53 secs)

Direct support from government (8 mins 21 secs)

James’s take on the overall financial impact of Covid (10 mins 8 secs)

What actions should we be taking right now? (11 mins 31 secs)

Advice for those who are struggling (12 mins 52 secs)

Utilising a PCN surplus (14 mins 3 secs)

How the additional roles can help from a network perspective (14 mins 34 secs)

Will there be any further opportunities to boost income at any point? (15 mins 8 secs)

Transformation of working process = savings? (16 mins 14 secs)

James’s final thoughts (17 mins 29 secs)

Further information, resources and getting in touch (17 mins 56 secs)

The COVID article can be found here and the Autumn version which also contains COVID tips (including Christmas gifts) can be requested from your local AISMA accountant or by emailing James at james.gransby@rsmuk.com

Following our recent podcast featuring Dr Farzana Hussain, we catch up this week with Dr Hussain Gandhi, aka Dr Gandalf to his own eGPlearning Podblast listeners, to hear about how his year in post as Clinical Director for Nottingham City East PCN has gone, in the backdrop of all the challenges presented by Covid, the flu vaccination programme and the new PCN DES specs (to name but a few). Gandhi talks to Ben about his own reflections within his role, how his teams have fared, how they are dealing with increased pressure and their plans for the future which include expansion of the team and the services they can offer.

Introduction (31 secs)

Sustaining the initial excitement of being Clinical Director despite a particularly gruelling year (45 secs)

Relationship development within the network area (1 min 23 secs)

Sink or swim? (2 mins 49 secs)

The explosion of tech in general practice (3 mins 31 secs)

Adoption of digital process and the impact on multi-disciplinary working and setting up new services (4 mins 36 secs)

How are Nottingham City East using the additional roles scheme? (6 mins 17 secs)

Gandhi’s thoughts on the network manager post and recognising the efforts of Practice Managers over the last 12 months (8 mins 16 secs)

The practicalities of employing a network manager / designing the role (9 mins 42 secs)

Progress on the additional clinical roles (10 mins 27 secs)

Time management (11 mins 56 secs)

Short and long-term strategies for employment of additional roles (12 mins 26 secs)

PCN DES specs (13 mins 42 secs)

Coping with an escalating workload (15 mins 12 secs)

The importance of saying “no” (16 mins 4 secs)

Main reflections and highlights from the last 12 months (16 mins 41 secs)

What happens next? (17 mins 45 secs)

The eGPlearning Podblast (19 mins 8 secs)

Finding out more (19 mins 57 secs)

The link to the eGPlearning YouTube channel is here

With a whopping 55% of Practice Managers intending to leave their posts in the next 12 months, this is a clear sign that there is growing discontent and therefore, a potentially huge problem for general practice that needs to be tackled sooner, rather than later. In the latest of our series of Practice Manager panels, Nicola Davies and Robyn Clark return and are this week joined by Jo Wadey, fellow Practice Manager and Chair of the West Sussex Practice Managers Association and by Carole Cusack, Director of Primary Care at Wessex LMCS to discuss the issue of continuing disregard and lack of recognition nationally for Practice Management as a profession. Where and how do Practice Managers get their concerns heard? How effective are LMCs in addressing their needs? Should there be national accreditation of Practice Managers? And the million-dollar question; is there a role for collectivism and the establishment of a union?

Introductions (28 secs)

What is the reason for low morale amongst Practice Managers right now? (1 min 5 secs)

Robyn’s views (2 mins 55 secs)

Jo shares her experiences (3 mins 45 secs)

Carole’s sense from an LMC perspective (4 mins 47 secs)

The exclusion of Practice Managers from the New to Partnership Payment Scheme (5 mins 57 secs)

Clinical versus non-clinical (6 mins 29 secs)

The Practice Management Network (7 mins 18 secs)

Percentages of Practice Managers leaving post in the next 12 months and the implications for general practice (7 mins 57 secs)

Why there is a need for a nationally recognised professional body for Practice Managers (9 mins 6 secs)

Membership and / or accreditation (10 mins 48 secs)

The complexities and variation in becoming a Practice Manager (13 mins 41 secs)

Which existing organisations could be a model for a national body of Practice Management? (16 mins 11 secs)

How it feels to be disregarded by existing, recognised bodies (18 mins 14 secs)

Where do we go from here? (19 mins 48 secs)

Ben’s closing remarks / summary (20mins 56 secs)

This time last year we caught up with Clinical Director and now GP of the Year Dr Farzana Hussain to get her early thoughts about her (then) new role as a PCN lead. Fast forward 12 months and Farzana is back to share an update on the challenges she and her network team have faced and where they have achieved success, in spite of the pressures of meeting the demands of the primary care contract and the small matter of a global pandemic. From developing and managing relationships, to understanding and embedding additional roles and identifying where further support is required across the board, this week’s podcast is a fascinating insight into the world of a Clinical Director during the early life of a PCN.

Introduction (33 secs)

Becoming GP of the Year (47 secs)

Stand out moments in the last year, in summary (1 min 34 secs)

Evolving relationships between practices and the network more broadly (2 mins 38 secs)

Working on shared purpose (4 mins 14 secs)

How has Covid impacted on PCN relationships and the development of the network itself (5 mins 45 secs)

Recruitment of additional roles (6 mins 52 secs)

Meeting the challenge of embedding new roles in practice (10 mins 7 secs)

When will the positive impact of the new roles be felt? (12 mins 33 secs)

Is there adequate support in place for managing the establishment of new teams? (14 mins 12 secs)
Managing the demands for time and meetings (15 mins 29 secs)

What support is available for clinical directors themselves? (16 mins 46 secs)

The £1.50 challenge (19 mins 7 secs)

What’s next for Farzana? (20 mins 44 secs)

The Primary Care Home programme is an innovative approach to strengthening and redesigning primary care, which was founded by the National Association of Primary Care (NAPC) in 2017. Since that time, there has been the emergence of primary care networks so how have the radical differences which have swept across the general practice system affected the programme and its development? This week’s podcast features Dr Minesh Patel, current NAPC Chair, who talks to Ben about the progress of the Primary Care Home movement, the impact of PCNs and their influence broadly and what is next in terms of both models.

Introductions (10 secs)

The role of the NAPC (21 secs)

Primary Care Home (PCH) initiative and the relationship with PCNs (1 min 2 secs)

How is the work of the Primary Care Home being carried out now? (2 mins 2 secs)

Are PCNs a risk to the Primary Care Home movement? (3 mins 24 secs)

PCN new roles (5 mins 13 secs)

The key differences of Primary Care Home and PCN – and the resulting impacts (6 mins 40 secs)

Are networks operating differently in different areas when it comes to recruitment of the new roles? (8 mins 11 secs)

The timeline for embedding new staff (9 mins 34 secs)

Where PCNs fit as far as integrated care is concerned (10 mins 8 secs)

Lessons in engagement from the Primary Care Home programme (13 mins 4 secs)

Relationship development (14 mins 33 secs)

How has Covid affected the development of PCNs? (15 mins 32 secs)

NAPC forward view and how they can help practices and networks right now (16 mins 49 secs)

Getting in touch (18 mins 26 secs)

The NAPC website is here

To get in touch via Twitter

Or you can call: 020 7636 7228